San Diego FC added a trio of players to their inaugural roster ahead of their 2025 debut in the 2024 MLS Expansion Draft.
Sporting director Tyler Heaps and the rest of San Diego’s technical staff picked from a list of over 300 unprotected players from existing MLS rosters. No more than one player was allowed to be selected from any given team.
Over the five rounds, San Diego FC selected:
- Jasper Loffelsend, RB, Colorado Rapids
- Heine Gikling Bruseth, CM, Orlando City
- Hamady Diop, LB, Charlotte FC
- Thiago Andrade, FW, New York City FC (before trading him to Toronto FC for the 9th pick in the upcoming SuperDraft, up to $250,000 in General Allocation Money, and a future sell-on)
- Hosei Kijima, MF, St. Louis City (before trading him to DC United for $400,000 in General Allocation Money)
Prior to Wednesday’s draft, head coach Mikey Varas had just nine officially rostered players at his disposal, though GiveMeSport has reported San Diego have also acquired center back Andres Reyes from the New York Red Bulls. Counting Reyes, the squad is now up to 13.
Chucky Lozano is still the team’s lone DP.
Two players joined San Diego from sister club FC Nordsjaelland, a Danish team that shares ownership with San Diego FC, in forward Marcus Ingvartsen and defensive midfielder Jeppe Tverskov. Longtime English Championship center back Paddy McNair and young attacker Alex Mighten both arrived from Europe, while 18-year-old goalkeeper Duran Ferree signed as the team’s first player.
Earlier this week, the club also traded for forward Tomas Angel, center back Christopher McVey, and goalkeeper CJ dos Santos.
Joe’s view:
Even with the 2025 season just over two months away, it’s too early to make any sort of judgement about San Diego FC’s roster build. There will be plenty of arrivals between now and next season’s opening weekend on February 22-23, seemingly including another DP.
